The country's oldest financial institution, IFCI, today said the institution is not aspiring to be like its high-profile peer ICICI Bank but would aim at creating its own space as a niche financial intermediary in the next five years.
"I don't want to say that I would like to be ICICI because ICICI was converted into a bank ... What I would say is, now you see ICICI, after 5 years there could be an IFCI way also," IFCI Managing Director and CEO Atul K Rai told PTI.
"We are 6-7 years older than ICICI so may be we should aim at an IFCI way. There should an IFCI way. You probably should ask somebody else 2-3 years down the line that would you like to grow like an IFCI," he said.
IFCI was established on July 1, 1948, as the first development financial institution in the country to cater to the long-term finance needs of the industrial sector, while ICICI incorporated seven years later in 1955.
ICICI, was also born as a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses, which later merged with its subsidiary ICICI Bank Ltd in 2002.
Referring to the potential areas for growth, Rai said "we have factoring business, we have venture capital, we have a financial services company... We are making some kind of an attempt at creation of institutional play in these sector from our side as well."
